


Of Glowing Flowers and Sunny Days

by strawberrylemonade1225



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Forests, M/M, Mutual Pining, forest spirit, i swear on my life that it isn't that bad, look okay i know it says "major character death" but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 08:14:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12602224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrylemonade1225/pseuds/strawberrylemonade1225
Summary: A boy came out from between the trees, appearing as if there's a glow to him as well. His clothes looked like they were made of… leaves? A shirt and shorts and he walked barefoot. His hair had leaves strewn throughout it, and his eyes were blown huge as he stared at Jeremy.





	Of Glowing Flowers and Sunny Days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [questionabletendencies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/questionabletendencies/gifts).



The first time Jeremy met him was when he ran out of his house during a particularly nasty fight between his parents in June. He had already narrowly dodged a flying plate once, and he wasn't about to again, so he fled.

Looking up and down the street, his eyes landed on the forest at the end of his road. He doesn't know why, but he felt tugged toward there, even though the sun was setting and he was deathly afraid of the dark and being isolated, which is what a forest would do to him.

He ran into the forest, weaving between trees until he came to a slight clearing. There was a large tree with a hollowed out trunk, and Jeremy crawled into it, knees coming up to his chest, and he cried into them.

The world became darker and darker, and Jeremy's heart pounded more and more. He crawled out from the space, looking around with wide eyes, the sound of his own breathing was loud in his ears.

The dark only grew until it feels like he's been consumed until… it happened.

Lightning bugs surrounded him, but nothing like he's ever seen before. They lit up the entire clearing, basking a soft glow that calmed Jeremy's nerves tremendously, and his tears flowed a little slower.

A boy came out from between the trees, appearing as if there's a glow to him as well. His clothes looked like they were made of… leaves? A shirt and shorts and he walked barefoot. His hair had leaves strewn throughout it, and his eyes were blown huge as he stared at Jeremy.

Jeremy looked back, a bit self-conscious about his crying. He wiped his eyes with the sleeves of his sweater, and the boy walked closer. Jeremy decided to speak to him then.

“Hi. I'm- I'm Jeremy,” he told him, then added more. “I'm nine.”

The boy said nothing, and soon, there were two hands on Jeremy's face, and the touch felt really weird, like there was a layer of a blanket between the boy's hands and Jeremy's cheeks.

As the boy turned his head from side to side, Jeremy noticed another few things.

The boy's eyes were like cat eyes, and his ears were pointed. His mind jumped back to World of Warcraft, and he's sure that there were stars in his eyes.

“Oh my God!” He shouted, and the exclamation startled the boy, whose eyes seemed to go a little wider. “You're a woodland nymph! Or elf!”

The elf (?) shook his head, taking a step back. Jeremy missed the cotton hand feel. “Spirit.”

Even his voice sounded magical: a little echo-y and angelic. It intrigued Jeremy a great amount, and he wanted to make the boy talk more.

“What's your name?” Jeremy asked, taking a step closer. The boy remained still, face blank.

“Michael.”

Jeremy giggled as one of the fireflies landed on his nose before lightly swatting it away, feeling his heart lift. He turned to look at Michael again, but the spirit is gone. All that was left behind is a single white flower where he once stood

“Jeremiah David Heere, where are you?!” Jeremy heard a cry of, and the fireflies sizzle out, disappearing with a pop and he was drowning in darkness again.

His tears kicked back up and he ran toward the voice. He reached his dad eventually, who scooped him up easily and hugged him, carrying him out of the woods and toward the house.

His dad shushed him and pet his hair, whispering reassuring things in his ear, but Jeremy couldn't get his mind off of the spirit.

***

The next time Jeremy sees Michael, it's two years later.

He had fallen asleep that night when he was nine, and woken up thinking he had dreamt the whole thing, so he never bothered to check again.

He was kicking a ball around on the street, bored out of his mind, when he accidentally kicked it too hard and it bounced off and into the woods.

Jeremy groaned when he realized that he was going to have to trudge into the woods to find it, and just prepared himself for the journey.

He walked into the forest, following where he saw it bounce, and he smiled when he saw the bright red ball because _wow, that was easy._

Walking over, he bent down to pick it up, when tan hands snatched it out of his vision, and Jeremy's head whipped up to come face to face with Michael. Michael was hugging the ball to his chest protectively, his eyebrows furrowed, and Jeremy stood up straight, jaw slack.

“You're real,” he whispered, mostly to himself, and Michael scoffed.

“Well, I am certainly not fake,” he replied sarcastically, and his voice made Jeremy's head buzz a little. “I had thought you would've visited me again after the first time, but it seems as if I was wrong.”

Jeremy gulped and scrambled to get out an apology. “I-I’m sorry, I thought I was dreaming and-”

Michael smiled, and Jeremy is amazed when his grin glows. Literally. “I'm kidding! I assumed as much; I do not get many visitors.”

Jeremy chewed on his lip and fiddled with his hands. “That… that must be lonely.”

“Don't worry, I have friends, still,” Michael waved off, and Jeremy looked down to see a phantom squirrel skitter by his feet, weaving through Michael's legs. “Even if they aren't real.”

“I'll-I'll be your friend!” Jeremy jumped forward and grabbed Michael's hands. The squirrel turned into powder. “A real one.”

Michael seemed to have an internal debate with himself. He bit his lip, and the glow around him flickered between different intensities. Jeremy found himself fascinated with how holding Michael's hands felt like holding very dense cotton, unlike any other hands he had ever held.

(Not that he had… held much.)

The glow eventually leveled out, and spilled over Jeremy brightly, calming him for some reason. He felt at ease when he met Michael's eyes, pupils blown wide.

“I'd… I'd like that.”

Jeremy nodded, a smile pulling at his lips. “Cool.”

Whelp.

Now, Jeremy could cross “befriend a spirit” off of his bucket list.

***

Jeremy began visiting Michael all the time. They grew closer and closer, and Jeremy learned more and more about the spirit world.

“How come your touch doesn't feel like a human's does?”

“My skin and body are uh… very fragile. I could tear like a leaf if I were to be attacked. Essentially, my physical form is like yours, but not yours.” Michael dragged his fingers through the water of the small creek. Jeremy sat on the other side, knees pulled to his chest, chin propped up on them. “Us spirits were once untouchable, translucent, like actual spirits. Evil abused that, and... we all got punished with a very weak form.”

“Speaking of which, you're a tree spirit; shouldn't you, I don't know, be a tree or something? Or at least made of bark.”

Michael laughed, and the light sound made Jeremy's heart skip a beat.

“Typically, yes, I would be, but since I protect this forest, this forest _very_ near humans, I was given a humanlike physical form.”

“You… you glow.”

“Well, I mean, you're right, but I said humanlike.” Michael stood and Jeremy saw flowers winding around his leg. Jeremy stood as well, and stepped over the creek. He approached Michael, and Michael suddenly doubled over, clutching his stomach and coughing hard. Jeremy went to pat his back, worrying what was happening, and his hand phased right through Michael's body. _Didn't he just say his only form is physical?_ Jeremy thought to himself.

Michael eventually straightened up again, and took a shaky step back. Jeremy saw multicolored leaves scattered on the ground where Michael had just hacked up his lungs. “Is that-”

“What season is it?” Michael asked, forearm covering his mouth. Jeremy's eyes were wide as he scanned his face.

“Fall…?”

“Oh. Oh, it came faster than I thought it would.” Michael put down his arm, and his glow was dimmed. “Jeremy, I have neglected to… tell you something about myself.”

“Are you- are you dying?!” Jeremy near shouted, jumping forward and clutching Michael's shoulders.

“In… a way. I… during the fall, when the leaves fall, I… die. When the leaves flourish again, I come back, same as ever. During the fall, I turn into flowers or a tree sprout, but I come back in spring.”

“Is that what always happens?” Jeremy inquired, and he felt a bit of panic pressing down.

“Yes. It happens to all tree spirits; I'll be fine. It's just… the lead up sucks,” Michael reassured, grabbing Jeremy's hands in his own. Cotton, yet now cold, hands.

“... I'll miss you.”

“Come-come talk to me, still! I- my plant body will still glow, and I'll hear everything you say! You don't have to leave!”

Jeremy just stepped forward, hugging Michael. Michael hugged back immediately, and Jeremy felt like he was being wrapped up in a blanket, calming his nerves just a little.

Just a little.

***

The first time Jeremy witnessed Michael die, he was fourteen.

It was near the end of September, and they were leaning against the trunk of a thick tree. Jeremy was rambling about this girl named Christine, and Michael was listening without talking that much.

Michael looked like a ghost, with sunken in eyes and hollow cheeks. His glow was very dim, and he was quite weak.

When the sun was about to set, Michael walked Jeremy to the edge of the forest, and Jeremy hugged him.

“It's almost your time, right?” Jeremy asked, voice low, and he felt Michael nod against him. Michael stepped back, and went to say something, but his eyes widened and he froze. Froze as in not blinking, not moving, not even breathing, and Jeremy felt the panic inside of him flare up.

Their eyes locked one second before there was a crackling sound and a pop as Michael's body disappeared, scattering the ground with glowing alstroemeria flowers where he died.

(The only reason Jeremy even knew what flowers they were is because Michael was very enthusiastic and loud with his teaching of flower types.)

Jeremy just stared at the flowers with wide eyes, and he wished he could ask if that process hurt, but he knew he wouldn't get an answer in response. He smiled sadly and said goodbye, walking home.

He entered his house and crawled under his covers, letting the gloominess wash over him, wave after wave, lulling him to sleep.

***

Jeremy was seventeen now, and he was crushing really bad on someone.

It's not just a crush by this point, it was more like he was in love with them, but he wouldn’t tell them that.

“You know… me and Christine broke up,” Jeremy announced, swinging his feet from his spot in the tree. Michael, who had been busy feeding a squirrel, suddenly shoot up straight and whipped around to face him. “We clicked more as friends than anything.”

“Oh,” is all Michael responded with, and Jeremy can't help to be a little disappointed. A silence fell between them as Michael finished feeding the squirrel.

“Could you come down here?”

Jeremy nodded, climbing down and out of the tree. He walked over to Michael, and Michael seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. He made a humming noise and Jeremy found curiosity building up inside of him.

Michael took a step closer and grabbed Jeremy's hand. Jeremy watched in wonder as Michael lifted it up and Michael pressed the palm of Jeremy's hand to his chest. Jeremy felt the rapid beating of his heart, the rate alike the one of a cat. His expression, however, was left completely blank, but his pupils were blown wide and his cheeks were red. He stared at Jeremy's face, seemingly examining him, and Jeremy squirmed and blushed under his stare.

“Is it… okay for your heart to beat this fast?” Jeremy asked, cringing when it came out as a whisper. Michael hesitated before he slowly nodded.

“Yes, it is. My heart rate is faster than a human's heart rate, but…” Michael's grip tightened slightly on Jeremy's hand, and Jeremy flushed a little more “... it is rare for it to go this fast.”

“What does… what does this speed mean?”

“It means… it means…”

Michael was struggling with his words, that was plain to see. He let go of Jeremy's hand, yet his eyes still locked on Michael's face. Fingers curled into the front of his shirt, and suddenly Jeremy was being pulled forward and catching Michael's lips with his own.

In his shock, he didn't kiss back, and he was about to when Michael pulled away a bit, pressing his forehead to Jeremy's. Jeremy's eyes remained open as Michael's slid closed.

“I… do not have much to lose. I don't have any family or friends beside you, honestly. I am just a tree spirit.” Jeremy could feel Michael's breathing against his lips, lips that were a little bit tingly. “If I have… overstepped my boundary… or you do not feel the same… I ask that you leave and forget about me.”

Michael pulled away, posture tense, and arms held tight to his sides. “My heart is as fragile as my body.”

Blue eyes scanned Michael's face before pale hands grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back in, kissing him. Almost immediately, Michael responded, winding his arms around Jeremy's waist. Jeremy kissed him hard, wanting him to know he was loved, to know that he did have something to lose, to know that Jeremy had something to lose.

Kissing Michael is like… well, kissing anyone else, but through a soft, warm layer. Like… a biscuit?

(Cut Jeremy some slack, okay? It's kinda hard to think of kissing similes _while_ kissing the guy.)

His mind went a little fuzzy at the edges, Michael pulling away to breathe and pressing more and more kisses to his mouth. Jeremy felt like he was in heaven.

Jeremy felt something tickling his arms and he jumped back, going to swat at whatever it was. His hand stopped, however, hovering above his skin after seeing vines winding their way around his arm, and a red chrysanthemum connected to them. He assumed the same was with his leg, and when he gave Michael a questioning look, Michael went red and looked away. The light around him burned brightly, flickering between bright and brighter.

“The flower symbolizes love. I do not know if it's the same for humans, but when a tree spirit falls in love, their love sticks with that person.” Michael leaned forward, lightly kissing Jeremy again before speaking against his lips. “It is true that I am in love with you, and only you.”

Jeremy was crushing on someone now. Well, it's more like he was in love with them, but he wouldn’t tell them that.

No, instead, Michael would tell him that he was in love with Jeremy first, and Jeremy would become so overwhelmed with emotion that he cry-laughed into Michael's shoulder, holding him tight, and allowing the comforting warm glow to completely consume him.

***

Jeremy never let himself think about what it might be like to be _with_ Michael, so he's very ill-prepared for when it happens.

Michael's glow amplified even more each time he's with Jeremy, and Jeremy always felt warm and safe around him, as if nothing could hurt him in that time, as if the world just… didn't exist.

Not being able to go anywhere with Michael sucked, though. Michael would walk Jeremy to the edge of the forest, and then not be able to go any further, an invisible barrier tying his soul to the trees.

Jeremy had always wanted to go on cheesy movie dates, beach dates, dinner dates, but he couldn’t with Michael.

That ended up being okay, though, seeing as how he'd trade all of that to lay in a field with their fingers intertwined, bathing in the setting sun with whispers of “I love you”.

That ended up being okay when all Jeremy really wanted to do was stroll around in the forest hand in hand with Michael, soft pretty flowers lining the pathway in which they walked. Pretty flowers that would always take the two of them right back to the edge of the forest, where Michael would cup Jeremy's face as if he was made of porcelain.

That ended up being okay when Jeremy taught Michael about all the things he couldn't go and see for himself, such as beaches and microwaves.

(“My guardian angel friend told me that microwaves are really cool. I want to own one. We have things like microwaves in the spirit world, but they explode if you let the time run down to zero.”)

That ended up being okay when Michael complained about his vision and Jeremy rolled up with dollar store glasses for him. His eyes had lit up and he had said something along the lines of “you're a lot more beautiful when you're clear”.

That ended up being okay when Jeremy bought a DS and a charger for Michael, when they laid in each other's presence and breathed, when they simply just saw each other.

It all ended up being okay.

***

Jeremy came home from college for spring break. He was twenty now, and he was well on his way to becoming a full-fledged actor.

“I guess I have Christine to thank for this passion,” Jeremy told Michael. Michael was eating strawberries that Jeremy had bought him. “I just wish you'd be able to see me live or something. Kinda sucks that you're tied to the forest.”

Michael just hummed, hand stalling with the strawberry pressed to his lips. Jeremy didn’t notice this and kept on rambling.

“Are you _sure_ there's no way you can like… become human or something? Perform some spirit magic? Voodoo stuff?”

“No,” Michael responded quickly. He sounded… rather sad. That caught Jeremy's attention more than anything.

“Michael… are you okay?”

“There's… I… I haven't told you everything there is to tell you about spirits like me.”

“Is it… is it something bad?” Jeremy asked, worry building up. It spiked more when Michael didn't say anything.

Michael stood up, and the abrupt change made Jeremy stand as well. Michael walked up to him, grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him hard.

White flashed beneath Jeremy's eyelids, and he felt that same tickle of flowers and vines climbing up his skin. They felt like they were tugging down on him, but they're not strong enough to take him anywhere, and he remained upright.

There was a kaleidoscope of colors dancing through his mind, memories that aren't his, so many things. And it was all over in a flash.

Michael stepped away, eyes scanning Jeremy's body.

“What… what the _hell_ was that?!” he asked, feeling as if he aged forty years, then went back fifty. His legs were shaking, his heart was racing, and he was dizzy as hell, yet he stayed standing strong, somehow.

“I'll explain in time to come.” Michael walked closer and takes his hand. “I have to tell you something more serious now.”

Jeremy followed his lead as Michael pulled him to the large tree with the hollow trunk, and the two of them climb inside. The dark is barely lit by Michael's dim glow.

“My mother… she… died. She was scheduled to die at a certain time, but… she got killed before that time came,” Michael started, knees coming close to his chest. “I lied when I said all spirits are touchable; they actually have an option as to what they want, and it can be switched at any time.”

“I am not a lucky one, however; I will always be touchable, no matter what.” Michael reached out for Jeremy's hand, and Jeremy quickly took it. “And that's because of my mother.”

“My father was a human. I am a half breed of human and spirit, which is why I have knowledge on both sides, why I am touchable and have powers that a spirit does. My father is… he's the one who killed her… a while after I was born.”

“Why did your mother have a scheduled death date?”

Michael stood quiet, staring at the ground. Jeremy ran his thumb over his knuckles and jolted a little when Michael looks over at him with watery eyes.

“Because she fell for a human.”

Jeremy realized the implications of that and he was fully panicking now, coming closer to Michael and blubbering. Michael continued.

“Like her foolish son.”

Through his mess of emotions and words, Jeremy got out one coherent sentence. “How much- how much longer do you have?!”

“Until next fall.”

And Jeremy fainted, and all he saw was black, black, black.

Hopeless, hopeless, hopeless.

***

“When I die, I'll be relocated to another forest.”

“...There’s a chance I can find you then, right?”

Michael shook his head. “That will be very difficult. Along with that, whenever my advisers see you or someone like you approaching, my body will immediately shut down.”

“Jesus Christ…”

“Just hope to meet me in the afterlife, the spirit realm, etcetera.”

***

Michael died.

Michael died, and Jeremy was there to see it.

Michael was curled up on his lap, shaking and coughing hard. Jeremy was trying to be strong, but the fact that Michael wasn't going to be waiting for him by the trees at the edge of the forest, the end of the road, in the next spring was chipping away at him.

The shivering boy went still, and Jeremy cracked. Michael's hand clenched in the fabric of his shirt, and his body puffed out, a single red and white lily sprouting up next to Jeremy. The flower didn’t glow much, only a tiny bit, and Jeremy stared at it until he crumbled over.

Fists hit the ground, followed by his forehead. Silent sobs racked his body, and his happiness seemed to drain out of him.

It was so anticlimactic, so unfulfilling, so… wrong.

Michael was something special, something different; Jeremy thought he deserved more than just _this._

… But there was nothing he could do.

The lily swayed in the wind of the fall, and Jeremy curled up near it, letting darkness consume him whole.

***

Eventually, as all humans do, Jeremy died as well.

Died after a long, fulfilling life, giving in to old age in his home.

He had a wife, whose name was Brooke, and a son in his time. He and his wife had argued back and forth on names until he blurted out “Michael” and her eyes softened ever so slightly. She nodded fast, and that was the quickest Jeremy had ever seen her agree to anything.

Jeremy did become quite a big actor, with Christine by his side. He skipped between plays and movies, not really sure on which side he belonged fully. He just knew that he was passionate about it, and he didn't want to give it up.

He kept a lot of his backstory hidden from paparazzi and public eye, though. When asked what he was like as a child, he said he was a nerd. When asked who his friends were, he said he had only one, but they were gone now. When asked why he knows so much about flowers and trees, he'd shrug, get a wistfully sad expression on his face, and just said that learning about them captivated him as a kid.

(Jeremy knew about the conspiracies surrounding him and his secretive nature. He found them rather entertaining, especially the ones that claimed he himself was a woodland nymph.)

When he died, he didn't open his eyes to the pearly gates of heaven, nor did he open them to the fiery archway of hell. He opened them to see a blue sky with white clouds, vision obscured with the mesh of leaves over top. He sat up slowly, surprised by the absence of pain in his lower back.

Ahead of him was a field of yellowing grass, trees sprouting up from everywhere. He felt that familiar pain in his chest that he felt each and every time he entered a forest before pushing up off the ground and standing on shaking legs.

He looked down to his hands to see the skin smooth, and… young. Jeremy felt as if he was back in his teenage body.

Taking a few steps, his vision swam, wobbly and unsteady. His hearing was amplified, hearing the wind rustling leaves and the soft song of birds up at the tops of the trees.

Confusion had flooded him by that point; this was nothing like he had expected. But, of course, how could he expect anything? His life had been a rather strange one.

He made a few more steps forward until he heard another rustle, one that sounded like an animal coming near. He froze and whipped his head toward the sound, heart so loud he could hear it.

A boy came out from between the trees, appearing as if there was a glow to him as well. His eyes were blown wide and his hair was messy with leaves strewn between the brown locks. There were glasses on his face that were crooked and smudged, concealing eyes that were overflowing with tears. His mouth had stretched into a smile as well, relief evident in his stance, leaning against a tree.

“...Michael?” Jeremy choked out, and even his voice was younger. He turned fully toward the person, spirit, and sure enough, it was his first love.

“It worked. Oh my God, it actually wo-worked.” Michael ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back and knocked some leaves out. “I didn't think it would- it would work because of my human blood.”

“What would- huh? Did I actually die- am I-?” With Jeremy's old voice came his old stutter. Delightful.

“The spirit world it's, ah, it's _confusing_ , to say the least,” Michael breathed, wiping at his face. Jeremy's feet were still cemented to the ground. “Let's just, for simplicities sake, say I did… _something_ , and said something brought you here to me after death.”

“So-” Jeremy's breath caught in his throat as his mind processed what was happening. His eyes brimmed with tears. “This is all r-real?”

Michael nodded and Jeremy's heart stilled. Between the woosh of the wind weaving between leaves and the intense glow surrounding Michael, his feet became unstuck to the ground, taking a few more steps across the soft ground before he flung himself at the spirit.

“Jeremy,” Michael cooed, holding Jeremy tight to him and he buried his face in his neck. Jeremy clung tight to him, hands clenched in the leaf shirt, surprised by the lack of ripping.

Flowers sprouted all around them, all different kinds and colors. The sun shone down on them, and Jeremy pulled away the tiniest bit to look at Michael's face.

“Do you st-still have your DS?” he asked, and Michael barked out a laugh at how sudden of a question it was, nodding. He leaned forward and kissed Jeremy, Jeremy melting, having missed this more than anything, tears kicking up even more when he realized that he'd have this for forever now.

He'd have kisses in the hollowed out trunks of trees, he'd have flowers and trees and video game battles. He'd have Michael.

“C'mon. Let me show you around.” Michael tugged at his hand, walking back toward the trees that parted. The ground shook with their movement. “We have non-explosive microwaves now. It's so cool!”

And Jeremy went along, steps light as if he walked on clouds, heart light as if he was a teenager falling for a tree spirit all over again.


End file.
